The Diary

How could the BBC leave Israel out of its European Song Contest Greatest Hits concert in London next month? Of course, it couldn't. Dana International, the most famous transgender Jew in history, will be reprising her 1998 winning entry, Diva, in celebration of the contest's 60th anniversary.

Wolf Hall star Mark Rylance revealed that he has sometimes cut antisemitic lines from Shakespeare but maybe there are other ways to bowdlerise the Bard. What should the witches in Macbeth cast into their cauldron instead of "liver of blaspheming Jew"? "Liver chopped and Sabbath stew"?

In a Newsnight interview the other day, scientist Richard Dawkins was challenged about a tweet he wrote in 2013 that the entire Muslim population had won fewer Nobel prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge.

When asked by presenter Evan Davis why he had made such an invidious comparison, the scientist revealed he had not originally intended to mention the college.

Tuesday's episode of Inside the Commons gave some impressive insight into Parliament, but also raised some serious questions. Most importantly, what was the JC's Rosh Hashanah magazine doing in Douglas Carswell's bin?

Fear not - the Ukip MP for Clacton later tweeted our editor, assuring him he had read it first.

My colleague Marcus Dysch keeps getting texted by the assistant of a shadow cabinet minister unaware he has the wrong number. The minion's latest message this week announced his master was hungry and wanted some biscuits.